Systems and methods for partial authorization of electronic transactions

ABSTRACT

A method for managing payment submissions includes receiving, at an acquirer computing system, an authorization request submitted by a merchant computing system for a transaction of a predefined amount, the merchant computing system being associated with a merchant, and the authorization request identifying account information for an account that is associated with a payment card network and an issuer processor; and re-transmitting the authorization request for less than the predefined amount and greater than a configurable threshold value, until the authorization request is approved by the issuer processor or until the authorization request falls below the configurable threshold value.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of electronictransaction processing and, more particularly, to electronic managementof payment transactions submitted over electronic networks.

BACKGROUND

Electronic transactions and networks are used for a great number ofpurchases and sales between merchants and credit cardholders. A normalcard transaction may involve a number of parties, including an accountholder who possesses a card, a merchant, an acquirer processor, anissuer processor, an issuer financial institution, and a cardassociation network. Millions of such transactions occur daily atmerchants using a variety of payment card types, such as credit cards,debit cards, prepaid cards, and so forth. The transactions may be eithera one-time event for the purchase of a product or service, or may bepart of a subscription agreement reached between merchants and creditcardholders. Transactions based on account information received from anaccount holder may be declined for a number of different reasons, suchas non-sufficient funds, card expiration, expired account information,or a variety of other occurrences. Declined transactions may lead to avariety of undesirable outcomes for the merchant and the account holder.

SUMMARY

According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, systems andmethods are disclosed for electronic requests of payment transactionssubmitted over an electronic payments network.

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method is disclosed formanaging payment transactions submitted over an electronic paymentsnetwork. The method includes: receiving, at an acquirer computingsystem, an authorization request submitted by a merchant computingsystem for a transaction of a predefined amount, wherein the merchantcomputing system is associated with a merchant, wherein theauthorization request identifies account information for an account thatis associated with a payment card network and an issuer processor;receiving, at the acquirer computing system, a configurable thresholdvalue from the merchant for approving transactions that are below thepredefined amount; transmitting, by the acquirer computing system, theauthorization request to the issue processor for approving thetransaction for the predefined amount, wherein if the issue processordeclines the transaction for insufficient funds, re-transmitting theauthorization request to the issue processor for less than thepredefined amount but greater than the configurable threshold value,wherein re-transmitting the authorization request comprises an iterativereduction in the authorization request to the issue processor until anapproval is received by the issue processor or until the authorizationrequest falls below the configurable threshold value.

In accordance with another embodiment, a system is disclosed formanaging payment transaction requests. The system comprises: a memoryhaving processor-readable instructions stored therein; and a processorconfigured to access the memory and execute the processor-readableinstructions, which when executed by the processor configures theprocessor to perform a plurality of functions, including functions to:receive, at an acquirer computing system, an authorization requestsubmitted by a merchant computing system for a transaction of apredefined amount, wherein the merchant computing system is associatedwith a merchant, wherein the authorization request identifies accountinformation for an account that is associated with a payment cardnetwork and an issuer processor; receive, at the acquirer computingsystem, a configurable threshold value from the merchant for approvingtransactions that are below the predefined amount; transmit, by theacquirer computing system, the authorization request to the issueprocessor for approving the transaction for the predefined amount,wherein if the issue processor declines the transaction for insufficientfunds, re-transmits the authorization request to the issue processor forless than the predefined amount but greater than the configurablethreshold value, wherein re-transmitting the authorization requestcomprises an iterative reduction in the authorization request to theissue processor until an approval is received by the issue processor oruntil the authorization request falls below the configurable thresholdvalue.

In accordance with another embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readablemedium is disclosed that stores instructions that, when executed by acomputer, cause the computer to perform a method for scheduling paymenttransaction requests. The method includes: receiving, at an acquirercomputing system, an authorization request submitted by a merchantcomputing system for a transaction of a predefined amount, wherein themerchant computing system is associated with a merchant, wherein theauthorization request identifies account information for an account thatis associated with a payment card network and an issuer processor;receiving, at the acquirer computing system, a configurable thresholdvalue from the merchant for approving transactions that are below thepredefined amount; transmitting, by the acquirer computing system, theauthorization request to the issue processor for approving thetransaction for the predefined amount, wherein if the issue processordeclines the transaction for insufficient funds, re-transmitting theauthorization request to the issue processor for less than thepredefined amount but greater than the configurable threshold value,wherein re-transmitting the authorization request comprises a firstre-transmission at a first value and a second re-transmission at asecond value to the issue processor until an approval is received by theissue processor or until the authorization request falls below theconfigurable threshold value.

Additional objects and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will beset forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will beapparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of thedisclosed embodiments. The objects and advantages on the disclosedembodiments will be realized and attained by means of the elements andcombinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the detailed embodiments, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of thepresent disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explainthe principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 depicts a graphical representation of an account holder’s balancefluctuating over a series of months, according to one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an example payment system and networkin which electronic payment submission scheduling is performed,according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart depicting an example process for electronicpayment submission scheduling, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of an example process logic flow andmodules for electronic payment submission scheduling, according to oneor more embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of an example system and process flow forelectronic payment submission scheduling, according to one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts a computing device for electronic payment submissionscheduling, according to one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While principles of the present disclosure are described herein withreference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, itshould be understood that the disclosure is not limited thereto. Thosehaving ordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings providedherein will recognize additional modifications, applications,embodiments, and substitution of equivalents all fall within the scopeof the embodiments described herein. Accordingly, the invention is notto be considered as limited by the foregoing description.

Various non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure will now bedescribed to provide an overall understanding of the principles of thestructure, function, and use of systems and methods disclosed herein forthe management of payment transactions.

For simplicity, the description that follows will be provided byreference to a “payment vehicle,” which generally refers to any type offinancial alternative to currency. As is to be clear to those skilled inthe art, no aspect of the present disclosure is limited to a specifictype of payment vehicle. Therefore, it is intended that the followingdescription encompasses the use of the present disclosed techniques withmany other forms of financial alternatives to currency, including creditcards, debit cards, smart cards, single-use cards, pre-paid cards,electronic currency (such as might be provided through a cellulartelephone or personal digital assistant), and the like. Payment vehiclesmay be traditional plastic transaction cards, titanium-containing, orother metal-containing, transaction cards, clear and/or translucenttransaction cards, foldable or otherwise unconventionally-sizedtransaction cards, radio-frequency enabled transaction cards, or othertypes of transaction cards, such as credit, charge, debit, pre-paid orstored-value cards, or any other like financial transaction instrument.A payment vehicle may also have electronic functionality provided by anetwork of electronic circuitry that is printed or otherwiseincorporated onto or within the payment vehicle (and typically referredto as a “smart card”), or be a fob having a transponder and an RFIDreader, or may operate as a mobile wallet or by near field communication(NFC).

As described above, declined transaction payment requests may lead toundesirable outcomes, and associated increased costs, for merchants andaccount holders. Thus, the embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to improving (i.e., increasing) the successful authorization oftransaction payment requests. Furthermore, embodiments of the presentdisclosure provide for automatic scheduling of transaction paymentrequests based on an iterative reduction in payment amount in order toincrease the likelihood of successful authorization of the transactionpayment requests.

Some merchants have a need to utilize recurring transactions toperiodically collect funds from a consumer. Examples include health clubmemberships, insurance premiums, subscription fees, and so forth. Forconvenience, the merchant may accept payment for an initial transactionusing a payment vehicle that is received from the consumer. At a laterpoint in time, and sometimes based on a particular payment schedule, themerchant may utilize account information received during the initialtransaction to initiate a second transaction. These recurring billingarrangements may be used, for example, when a consumer agrees to pay aregular monthly, quarterly, or annual fee for a product, service, ormembership. In some cases, the dollar amount of each charge may varydepending on the product or service. Because of supporting recurringtransactions, merchants realize several benefits, such as timelypayments, reduced processing time/cost, and lower risk of error due tomanual entry.

Recurring billing may also be used to in the context of installmentbilling plans, which allow a consumer to purchase a product in a definednumber of installments, typically of equal value. Examples includedirect response television (DRTV) products and many catalog products. Byoffering installment billing, merchants may achieve increased sales ofhigher ticket items, timely payments, and lower risk of chargebacks.

Such recurring transactions may result in declined authorizations if acard account holder’s balance is less than what is needed to cover theinstallment billing. Declined transactions may lead to a variety ofundesirable outcomes for the merchant and the account holder. Because amajor expense for subscription merchants is the cost of customeracquisition, declined transactions result in lost revenue and potentialcosts in customer reacquisition. For customers, a declined transactionmay have been due to unforeseen expenses that unexpectedly cause theiraccount balance to fall short of a recurring installment. It wouldtherefore benefit a subscription merchant to authorize transactions forless than the expected installment payment to maximize revenue and keepcustomers on an ongoing installment plan. In accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present disclosure, an acquirer processor associatedwith the merchant may receive a configurable threshold value forapproving transactions for less than an expected payment amount. In suchembodiments, the acquirer processor may iteratively requestauthorization for partial payments until an approval is received oruntil the request authorization falls below the configurable thresholdvalue.

One or more examples of these non-limiting embodiments are illustratedin the selected examples disclosed and described in detail withreference to FIGS. 1-6 in the accompanying drawings. Those of ordinaryskill in the art will understand that systems and methods specificallydescribed herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings arenon-limiting embodiments. The features illustrated or described inconnection with one non-limiting embodiment may be combined with thefeatures of other non-limiting embodiments. Such modifications andvariations are intended to be included within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary representation of an account holder on aninstallment plan with an account balance that fluctuates over a seriesof months. A consumer may use any number of payment vehicles to enterinto a subscription agreement for the purchase of products or services.Merchants may then apply a recurring installment 104 against the cardholder’s account in exchange for the products or services. Accountholder balance 102 reflects the available funds in the card holder’saccount and is shown to fluctuate over the series of months as depositsor charges are made against the account.

Unforeseen expenses may cause a consumer’s account balance 102 to fallbelow a recurring installment 104, potentially resulting in a declinedauthorization and lost revenue for the merchant. If the account holder’sbalance 102 falls below a value of recurring installment 104, it wouldbenefit the merchant to instead approve the transaction for a partialamount rather than foregoing the entire value of the recurringinstallment 104. In some embodiments, the authorization for the partialamount can be characterized as a discount to the consumer and anextension of goodwill by the merchant.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, anacquirer processor may receive a configurable threshold value from amerchant for approving transactions that fall below the recurringinstallment 104. In some embodiments, the configurable threshold valuemay be a portion (e.g., percentage) of the recurring installment valuethat the merchant is willing to accept as partial payment. In otherembodiments, the configurable threshold value may be a portion of asingle (e.g., non-recurring) payment value that the merchant is willingto accept as partial payment. As an example, authorization request 106may reflect an approved transaction for a partial amount because thepartial authorization value may be higher than a configurable thresholdvalue set by the merchant. Authorization request 108 may instead reflecta declined transaction for a partial amount because the partialauthorization value may be lower than the configurable threshold valueset by the merchant. Alternatively, with the rise of an account holder’sbalance 102, authorization request 109 may reflect an approvedtransaction and a continuation of the subscription at the usual amount.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an example payment environment 200 forperforming electronic requests of payment transactions over anelectronic network. In the example payment environment 200, a paymentvehicle 226 (e.g., a credit card) may be issued to an account holder 213by an issuer financial institution 214. Issuer financial institution 214may be any of a variety of financial institutions that is capable ofissuing a payment vehicle to an account holder. Payment vehicle 226 maybe used to pay a merchant 216 for a purchase transaction at a merchantpoint of sale (POS) device 218. Merchant POS device 218 may be anydevice that facilitates receipt of a payment vehicle for payment of apurchase, such as for example, a POS terminal or a web interface.Further, merchant 216 may be any type of merchant or service provider,such as, for example, a brick-and-mortar merchant, an online merchant, amobile merchant, a kiosk, or any other type of merchant or deviceconfigured to receive payment cards, or electronic or mobile wallets,from account holders as a form of payment.

POS device 218 may be configured to interact with payment vehicle 226 toobtain account information about a consumer account affiliated withaccount holder 213. As shown in the depicted callout of POS device 218,in one or more embodiments, POS device 218 may include a memory 267coupled to processor 251, which may control the operations of a reader263, an input device 253, an output device 265, and a network interface261. Memory 267 may store instructions for processor 251 and/or data,such as, for example, an identifier that is associated with merchantaccount 212.

In one or more embodiments, reader 263 may include a magnetic stripreader. In one or more embodiments, reader 263 may include a contactlessreader, such as, for example, a radio frequency identification (RFID)reader, a near field communications (NFC) device configured to read datavia magnetic field coupling (in accordance with ISO standard 14443/NFC),a Bluetooth transceiver, a Wi-Fi transceiver, an infrared transceiver, alaser scanner, and so forth.

In one or more embodiments, input device 253 may include key buttonsthat may be used to enter the account information directly into POSdevice 218 without the physical presence of payment vehicle 226. Inputdevice 253 may be configured to provide further information to initiatea transaction, such as, for example, a personal identification number(PIN), password, zip code, etc., or in combination with the accountinformation obtained from payment vehicle 226. In one or moreembodiments, output device 265 may include a display, a speaker, and/ora printer to present information, such as, for example, the result of anauthorization request, a receipt for the transaction, an advertisement,and so forth.

In one or more embodiments, network interface 261 may be configured tocommunicate with acquirer processor 222 such as, for example, via atelephone connection, an Internet connection, or a dedicated datacommunication channel.

In one or more embodiments, the instructions stored in memory 267 may beconfigured at least to cause POS device 218 to send an authorizationrequest message to acquirer processor 222 to initiate a transaction. POSdevice 218 may or may not send a separate request for the clearing andsettling of the transaction. The instructions stored in memory 267 alsomay be configured to cause POS device 218 to perform other types offunctions discussed in this description.

In one or more embodiments, POS device 218 may have fewer componentsthan those illustrated in FIG. 2 . For example, in one or moreembodiments, POS device 218 may be configured for “card-not-present”transactions; and POS device 218 may not have a reader 263. In one ormore embodiments, POS device 218 may have more components than thoseillustrated in FIG. 2 .

During a purchase event, merchant POS device 218 may send anauthorization request 220 for the purchase transaction to acquirerprocessor 222 that processes payment vehicle transactions for merchant216. Additional intermediary entities, such as one or more paymentgateways, may assist with the handling and routing of authorizationrequest 220 or other related messaging. For the purposes ofillustration, such intermediary entities may be considered part ofacquirer processor 222. Authorization request 220 may includeidentifying information from payment vehicle 226, such as a BIN number,an expiration date, and a first and last name of the account holder, forexample. Authorization request 220 may further include identifyinginformation from the purchase, such as an amount and identifyinginformation from merchant POS device 218 and/or merchant 216, forexample.

In one or more embodiments, payment vehicle 226 may be used to establisha recurring billing arrangement between account holder 213 and merchant216. An initial transaction may allow merchant 216 to store accountinformation that may be used for subsequent billing events. The accountinformation may be stored in a cards-on-file storage 236. For example,the purchase event illustrated in FIG. 2 may be associated with asubscription, membership plan, installment payment plan between merchant216 and account holder 213, and so on. For subsequent transactions,merchant 216 may access cards-on-file storage 236 to retrieve therelevant account information. The subsequent transactions may notrequire direct involvement from account holder 213. In one or moreembodiments, account holder 213 may trigger the subsequent transaction,but may not provide payment vehicle 226 to merchant 216, as merchant 216may access the cardholder’s account information in cards-on-file storage236.

A payment processing computing system 224 at acquirer processor 222 mayreceive authorization request 220 from merchant 216. Payment processingcomputing system 224 may translate authorization request 220, ifnecessary, and may provide authorization request 220 to a paymentnetwork 242. Payment network 242 may be, for example, a network of acredit card association affiliated with payment vehicle 226. Nonlimitingexamples of credit card associations include VISA, MASTERCARD, DISCOVER,and AMERICAN EXPRESS, and so on. Authorization request 220 then may beprovided to a payment processing computing system 228 at an issuerprocessor 230. In response to receiving the authorization request, andbased on the type of payment vehicle 226, payment processing computingsystem 228 may provide authorization request 220 to issuer financialinstitution 214. Using information from authorization request 220,issuer financial institution 214 may associate the purchase transactionwith an account 231 of account holder 213 held by issuer financialinstitution 214. Issuer financial institution 214 then may send anauthorization response 232 which may either approve or deny thetransaction. Authorization response 232 may be provided to paymentprocessing computing system 228 at issuer processor 230 and thenprovided to payment network 242. Authorization response 232 then may beprovided to payment processing computing system 224 at acquirerprocessor 222. Upon receiving authorization response 232, paymentprocessing computing system 224 may send either an approval message or adenial message to merchant POS device 218 to complete the purchasetransaction. If the purchase transaction is approved, it may be postedto account holder’s account 231 and reconciled later with account holder213 and merchant 216.

Transaction records may be stored in one or more locations within system200. In one or more embodiments, the transaction record may be storedwithin a transaction data database 234 of acquirer processor 222. Thetransaction data may be received by transaction data database 234 fromvarious sources, such as merchant POS device 218, merchant 216, acquirerprocessor 222, and so on. A plurality of transaction parametersassociated with the purchase transaction may be stored in eachtransaction record, which may generally be used for settlement andfinancial recordkeeping. While the transaction parameters stored in eachtransaction record may vary, example transaction parameters may include,without limitation, account number, card number, payment vehicleinformation, product information (such as product type, product serialnumber, and so forth), transaction amount, loyalty account information,merchant information, transaction amount, response code, transactiondate, transaction time, whether the transaction was a “card present”transaction, and so on.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart depicting a method 300 for payment submissionscheduling, according to one or more embodiments. As shown in FIG. 3 ,operation 305 may include receiving a payment transaction from amerchant. For example, acquirer processor 222, depicted in FIG. 2 mayreceive authorization request 220 from merchant 216. Operation 310 mayinclude determining parameters of the received payment transaction. Forexample, the payment transactions may include the expected value of asingle payment transaction or the expected value of recurringinstallment payments. In other embodiments, the determining parametersmay include the configurable threshold value (e.g., an absolute dollarvalue or a percentage of the expected value) set by the merchant forapproving partial authorizations. Operation 315 may include determiningan optimal amount for submitting the payment transaction based on thedetermined payment transaction parameters and a historical dataset ofprocessing results. For example, the optimal amount may be a percentageof the expected payment amount. In other embodiments, the optimal amountmay be determined by requesting authorization close to the full amountand iteratively requesting authorization for a reduced amount until anapproval is received (e.g., 99% of the expected amount, 98% of theexpected amount, 97% of the expected amount, and so on). By iterativelyrequesting authorization for a reduced amount, the merchant may be ableto maximize revenue and recover close to the original expected amount.Operation 320 may include scheduling the submission of the paymenttransaction according to whether an approval was received, or whether anew authorization request can be made if the amount is above theconfigurable threshold value set by the merchant. Operation 325 mayinclude submitting the payment transaction for processing. If anauthorization failure is received at operation 330 then the method mayproceed to operation 335. Operation 335 may include updating thehistorical dataset of processing results and returning to operation 325to possibly resubmit the payment transaction for further processing. Ifan authorization success is received at operation 330 then the methodmay proceed to operation 340. Operation 340 may include updating thehistorical dataset of processing results and returning to operation 305to receive an additional payment transaction from a merchant.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of an example process flow for paymentsubmission scheduling, according to one or more embodiments. Thescheduling of a payment transaction submission may occur based on one ormore factors including, for example, a Reason Response Code (RRC) 402from a previous payment transaction, and a Bank Identification Number(BIN) 404. Additionally or alternatively, additional factors 406 may beused which can include, but are not limited to, fraud detection settingsof issuer processor 230, Merchant Identification Number (MID), amount oftransaction, payment vehicle type and/or account holder name, forexample. In some embodiments, one or more of these factors may be usedto determine a schedule for the submission of the payment transaction.The schedule may establish value amounts and one or more time windowswithin which the payment transaction may be submitted. A dataset ofprocessing results 418 may be utilized in determining optimal valueamounts as well as making the timing determination. According to one ormore embodiments, dataset of processing results 418 may be gathered fromtransaction data database 234 as shown in FIG. 2 . Dataset of processingresults 418 may include historical transaction data that can becorrelated to one of more of the factors. The determination of thepartial authorization amounts and timing of one or more transactions mayresult in the production of a submission schedule 410. Submissionschedule 410 may be built using any suitable rules, such as a date rule412, a pattern rule 414, or an amount rule 416. Date rule 412 canindicate, for example, a date of the month, a day of the week, or anumber of days in the future to initiate subsequent transactions.Pattern rule 414 can indicate the pattern of percentage values by whichto decrement and request partial authorizations. Amount rule 416 mayindicate monetary unit values by which to decrement and request partialauthorizations. Submission schedule 410 may be stored in submissionschedules database 238.

FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of an example process flow for paymentsubmission scheduling, according to one or more embodiments. A scheduledpayment transaction 506 is received from a merchant 502 by an acquirerprocessor 508. Scheduled payment transaction 506 may be based on accountinformation 504 maintained by merchant 502, or elsewhere, as may beappropriate. Scheduled payment transaction 506 may include typicaltransaction data, such as, for example, an amount, an accountidentifier, a BIN, a merchant identifier, etc. At least some of thetransaction data transmitted in the scheduled payment transaction mayinclude data that was originally received by merchant 502 during aninitial payment transaction originating with a payment vehicle andstored in cards-on-file storage 136, for example. A payment processingcomputing system of acquirer processor 508 may determine the cardassociation that is affiliated with the scheduled payment transaction506 (e.g., VISA, MASTERCARD, and so forth), to determine the properprocessing channels for the transaction.

Acquirer processor 508 may transmit an authorization attempt ortransaction request 514 to a payment network, which in turn may transmittransaction request 516 to an issuer financial institution 518. Issuerfinancial institution 518 may approve or reject the authorizationrequest based on a status of a financial account 530 associated with thetransaction or cardholder, or other factors, such as, for example, atransaction processing volume of financial institution 518. Acquirerprocessor 508 may communicate the authorization result of transactionrequest 516 to merchant 502 by, for example, an authorization response507. Financial account 530 can be any suitable account, such as a DDAaccount, a gift card account, a prepaid account, or any other type ofaccount that can be linked to or accessed by payment vehicle. Theavailable account balance of financial account 530 may vary over time asthe account holder withdraws funds and deposits funds. Transactionrequests may be rejected, for example, for reasons associated withfinancial account 530, such as non-sufficient funds, out-of-date accountinformation, etc. Acquirer processor 508 may store factors associatedwith transaction request 516 in dataset of processing results 512 to beused to determine a submission schedule 510 for subsequent transactionrequests. As described above, factors associated with transactionrequest 516 may include, for example, BIN 422, RRC 434, and so forth. Inaccordance with one or more embodiments, submission schedule 510 mayidentify value amounts or a date and a time for a subsequent transactionattempt. For example, dollar amounts 517, 523, and 525, reflect repeatedattempts for partial authorization according to reduced percentages orreduced monetary units until an approval is received. Acquirer processor508 may then submit subsequent transaction requests according tosubmission schedule 510.

The processes described herein may be performed on or between one ormore computing devices that are specially configured to perform theprocessing described herein. Referring now to FIG. 6 , an examplecomputing device 600 is presented. A computing device 600 may be, forexample, a server, a computing device that is integrated with othersystems or subsystems, a mobile computing device, a cloud-basedcomputing capability, and so forth. The computing device 600 can be anysuitable computing device as would be understood in the art, includingwithout limitation, for example, a custom chip, an embedded processingdevice, a tablet computing device, a POS device 218, a paymentprocessing computing system 224, a payment processing computing system228, a personal data assistant (PDA), a desktop, a laptop, amicrocomputer, a minicomputer, a server, a mainframe, or any othersuitable programmable device. According to one or more embodiments, asingle component can be replaced by multiple components and multiplecomponents can be replaced by a single component to perform a givenfunction or functions. Except where such substitution would not beoperative, such substitution is within the intended scope of the one ormore embodiments.

The computing device 600 may include a processor 602 that may be anysuitable type of processing unit such as, for example, a general purposecentral processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computer(RISC), a processor that has a pipeline or multiple processingcapability including having multiple cores, a complex instruction setcomputer (CISC), a digital signal processor (DSP), an applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASIC), a programmable logic devices (PLD),and a field programmable gate array (FPGA), among others. The computingresources may further include, for example, distributed computingdevices, cloud computing resources, and virtual computing resources ingeneral, etc.

The computing device 600 also may include one or more memories 606 suchas, for example, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM),cache memory associated with the processor 1002, or other memories suchas dynamic RAM (DRAM), static ram (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM),electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), flash memory, a removable memorycard or disk, a solid state drive, and so forth. The computing device600 also may include storage media such as, for example, a storagedevice that can be configured to have multiple modules, such as magneticdisk drives, floppy drives, tape drives, hard drives, optical drives andmedia, magnetooptical drives and media, compact disk drives, CompactDisk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disk Recordable (CD-R), CompactDisk Rewriteable (CD-RW), a suitable type of Digital Versatile Disk(DVD) or BluRay disk, and so forth. Storage media such as flash drives,solid state hard drives, redundant array of individual disks (RAID),virtual drives, networked drives and other memory means includingstorage media on the processor 602, or memories 606 are alsocontemplated as storage devices. It can be appreciated that such memorycan be internal or external with respect to operation of the disclosedembodiments. It can be appreciated that certain portions of theprocesses described herein may be performed using instructions stored ona non-transitory computer-readable medium or media that direct acomputer system to perform the process steps. Non-transitorycomputer-readable media, as used herein, comprises all computer-readablemedia except for transitory, propagating signals.

Network and communication interfaces 612 may be configured to transmitto, or receive data from, other computing devices 600 across a network614. The network and communication interfaces 612 may be, for example,an Ethernet interface, a radio interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB)interface, or any other suitable communications interface and caninclude receivers, transmitter, and transceivers. For purposes ofclarity, a transceiver may be referred to as a receiver or a transmitterwhen referring to only the input or only the output functionality of thetransceiver. Example communication interfaces 612 may include, forexample, wired data transmission links such as Ethernet and TCP/IP. Thecommunication interfaces 612 may include, for example, wirelessprotocols for interfacing with private or public networks 614. Forexample, the network and communication interfaces 612 and protocols mayinclude interfaces for communicating with private wireless networks suchas, for example, a Wi-Fi network, one of the IEEE 802.11x family ofnetworks, or another suitable wireless network. The network andcommunication interfaces 612 may include interfaces and protocols forcommunicating with public wireless networks 612, using, for example,wireless protocols used by cellular network providers, including CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA) and Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), etc. A computing device 600 may use network andcommunication interfaces 612 to communicate with hardware modules suchas, for example, a database or data store, or one or more servers orother networked computing resources. Data may be encrypted or protectedfrom unauthorized access.

According to one or more embodiments, the computing device 600 mayinclude a system bus 616 for interconnecting the various components ofthe computing device 600, or the computing device 600 may be integratedinto one or more chips such as, for example, a programmable logic deviceor an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The systembus 616 may include, for example, a memory controller, a local bus, or aperipheral bus for supporting input and output devices 604, andcommunication interfaces 612, etc. Example input and output devices 604may include keyboards, keypads, gesture or graphical input devices,motion input devices, touchscreen interfaces, one or more displays,audio units, voice recognition units, vibratory devices, computer mice,and any other suitable user interface.

The processor 602 and memory 606 may include nonvolatile memory forstoring, for example, computer-readable instructions, data, datastructures, program modules, code, microcode, and other softwarecomponents for storing the computer-readable instructions innon-transitory computer-readable mediums in connection with the otherhardware components for carrying out the methodologies described herein.Software components may include, for example, source code, compiledcode, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code,encrypted code, or any other suitable type of code or computerinstructions implemented using any suitable methodology including, forexample, high-level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled, orinterpreted programming language, etc.

These and other embodiments of the systems and methods may be used aswould be recognized by those skilled in the art. The above descriptionsof various systems and methods are intended to illustrate specificexamples and describe certain ways of making and using the systemsdisclosed and described here. These descriptions are neither intended tobe nor should be taken as an exhaustive list of the possible ways inwhich these systems can be made and used. A number of modifications,including substitutions of systems between or among examples andvariations among combinations can be made. Those modifications andvariations should be apparent to those of ordinary skill in this areaafter having read this disclosure.

The systems, apparatuses, devices, and methods disclosed herein aredescribed in detail by way of examples and with reference to thefigures. The examples discussed herein are examples only and areprovided to assist in the explanation of the apparatuses, devices,systems and methods described herein. None of the features or componentsshown in the drawings or discussed below should be taken as mandatoryfor any specific implementation of any of these the apparatuses,devices, systems or methods unless specifically designated as mandatory.For ease of reading and clarity, certain components, modules, or methodsmay be described solely in connection with a specific figure. In thisdisclosure, any identification of specific techniques, arrangements,etc. are either related to a specific example presented or are merely ageneral description of such a technique, arrangement, etc.Identifications of specific details or examples are not intended to be,and should not be, construed as mandatory or limiting unlessspecifically designated as such. Any failure to specifically describe acombination or sub-combination of components should not be understood asan indication that any combination or sub-combination is not possible.It will be appreciated that modifications to disclosed and describedexamples, arrangements, configurations, components, elements,apparatuses, devices, systems, methods, etc. can be made and may bedesired for a specific application. Also, for any methods described,regardless of whether the method is described in conjunction with a flowdiagram, it should be understood that unless otherwise specified orrequired by context, any explicit or implicit ordering of stepsperformed in the execution of a method does not imply that those stepsmust be performed in the order presented but instead may be performed ina different order or in parallel.

Reference throughout the specification to “various embodiments,” “someembodiments,” “one embodiment,” “some example embodiments,” “one exampleembodiment,” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with any embodimentis included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” “in one embodiment,”“some example embodiments,” “one example embodiment, or “in anembodiment” in places throughout the specification are not necessarilyall referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particularfeatures, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitablemanner in one or more embodiments.

Throughout this disclosure, references to components or modulesgenerally refer to items that logically can be grouped together toperform a function or group of related functions. Like referencenumerals are generally intended to refer to the same or similarcomponents. Components and modules can be implemented in software,hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. The term “software”is used expansively to include not only executable code, for examplemachine-executable or machine-interpretable instructions, but also datastructures, data stores and computing instructions stored in anysuitable electronic format, including firmware, and embedded software.The terms “information” and “data” are used expansively and includes awide variety of electronic information, including executable code;content such as text, video data, and audio data, among others; andvarious codes or flags. The terms “information,” “data,” and “content”are sometimes used interchangeably when permitted by context. It shouldbe noted that although for clarity and to aid in understanding someexamples discussed herein might describe specific features or functionsas part of a specific component or module, or as occurring at a specificlayer of a computing device (for example, a hardware layer, operatingsystem layer, or application layer), those features or functions may beimplemented as part of a different component or module or operated at adifferent layer of a communication protocol stack. Those of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize that the systems, apparatuses, devices,and methods described herein can be applied to, or easily modified foruse with, other types of equipment, can use other arrangements ofcomputing systems such as client-server distributed systems, and can useother protocols, or operate at other layers in communication protocolstacks, than are described.

It is intended that the specification and examples be considered asexemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention beingindicated by the following claims.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method for managing authorization requests forrecurring transactions, the method comprising: receiving, at a paymentprocessing computing system, an authorization request for a purchasetransaction, wherein the authorization request includes accountinformation for an account holder that is associated with a payment cardnetwork and an issuer processor; determining, by the payment processingcomputing system, one or more parameters for the purchase transaction,wherein the one or more parameters comprise an expected value for thepurchase transaction and a configurable threshold value of the purchasetransaction; determining, by the payment processing computing system, areduced value that is less than the expected value and greater than theconfigurable threshold value, based on the one or more parameters; andtransmitting, by the payment processing computing system, theauthorization request to the issuer processor for an approval of thepurchase transaction for the reduced value, wherein if the issuerprocessor declines the purchase transaction having the reduced value forinsufficient funds, the method further comprises re-transmitting theauthorization request to the issuer processor for approval, and whereinre-transmitting the authorization request to the issuer processor forapproval comprises an iterative reduction of the reduced value that isless than the expected value and greater than the configurable thresholdvalue in each re-transmitted authorization request until an approval isreceived from the issuer processor by the payment processing computingsystem.
 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising: iterativelyreducing the reduced value by an incremental percentage; and iterativelyre-transmitting the authorization request, based on reducing the reducedvalue by the incremental percentage.
 23. The method of claim 21, furthercomprising: iteratively reducing the reduced value by a unit value; anditeratively re-transmitting the authorization request, based on reducingthe reduced value by the unit value.
 24. The method of claim 21, whereinthe reduced value is a percentage of the expected value.
 25. The methodof claim 21, further comprising: receiving an authorization result fromthe issuer processor; and updating a historical dataset of processingresults using the received authorization result.
 26. The method of claim25, further comprising: transmitting, by the payment processingcomputing system to the merchant POS device, an indication of anapproved authorization when the issuer processor approves theauthorization request.
 27. The method of claim 21, wherein the purchasetransaction is one of a series of recurring transactions of the expectedvalue.
 28. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a programcausing a computer to execute a method for managing authorizationrequests for recurring transactions, the method comprising: receiving,at a payment processing computing system, an authorization request for apurchase transaction, wherein the authorization request includes accountinformation for an account holder that is associated with a payment cardnetwork and an issuer processor; determining, by the payment processingcomputing system, one or more parameters for the purchase transaction,wherein the one or more parameters comprise an expected value for thepurchase transaction and a configurable threshold value of the purchasetransaction; determining, by the payment processing computing system, areduced value that is less than the expected value and greater than theconfigurable threshold value, based on the one or more parameters; andtransmitting, by the payment processing computing system, theauthorization request to the issuer processor for an approval of thepurchase transaction for the reduced value, wherein if the issuerprocessor declines the purchase transaction having the reduced value forinsufficient funds, the method further comprises re-transmitting theauthorization request to the issuer processor for approval, and whereinre-transmitting the authorization request to the issuer processor forapproval comprises an iterative reduction of the reduced value that isless than the expected value and greater than the configurable thresholdvalue in each re-transmitted authorization request until an approval isreceived from the issuer processor by the payment processing computingsystem.
 29. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 28,further comprising: iteratively reducing the reduced value by anincremental percentage; and iteratively re-transmitting theauthorization request, based on reducing the reduced value by theincremental percentage.
 30. The non-transitory computer readable mediumof claim 28, further comprising: iteratively reducing the reduced valueby a unit value; and iteratively re-transmitting the authorizationrequest, based on reducing the reduced value by the unit value.
 31. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the reducedvalue is a percentage of the expected value.
 32. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 28, further comprising: receiving anauthorization result from the issuer processor; and updating ahistorical dataset of processing results using the receivedauthorization result.
 33. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 32, further comprising: transmitting, by the payment processingcomputing system to the merchant POS device, an indication of anapproved authorization when the issuer processor approves theauthorization request.
 34. A computing system for managing authorizationrequests for recurring transactions, the computing system comprising anon-transitory computer readable medium having instructions storedthereon which when executed by a processor cause the processor toperform operations comprising: receiving, at a payment processingcomputing system, an authorization request for a purchase transaction,wherein the authorization request includes account information for anaccount holder that is associated with a payment card network and anissuer processor; determining, by the payment processing computingsystem, one or more parameters for the purchase transaction, wherein theone or more parameters comprise an expected value for the purchasetransaction and a configurable threshold value of the purchasetransaction; determining, by the payment processing computing system, areduced value that is less than the expected value and greater than theconfigurable threshold value, based on the one or more parameters; andtransmitting, by the payment processing computing system, theauthorization request to the issuer processor for an approval of thepurchase transaction for the reduced value, wherein if the issuerprocessor declines the purchase transaction having the reduced value forinsufficient funds, the method further comprises re-transmitting theauthorization request to the issuer processor for approval, and whereinre-transmitting the authorization request to the issuer processor forapproval comprises an iterative reduction of the reduced value that isless than the expected value and greater than the configurable thresholdvalue in each re-transmitted authorization request until an approval isreceived from the issuer processor by the payment processing computingsystem.
 35. The system of claim 34, further comprising: iterativelyreducing the reduced value by an incremental percentage; and iterativelyre-transmitting the authorization request, based on reducing the reducedvalue by the incremental percentage.
 36. The system of claim 34, furthercomprising: iteratively reducing the reduced value by a unit value; anditeratively re-transmitting the authorization request, based on reducingthe reduced value by the unit value.
 37. The system of claim 34, whereinthe reduced value is a percentage of the expected value.
 38. The systemof claim 34, wherein the instructions executed by the processor furthercause the processor to: receive an electronic transaction result fromthe issuer processor; and update a historical dataset of processingresults using the received electronic transaction result.
 39. The systemof claim 38, wherein the instructions executed by the processor furthercause the processor to: transmit, by the payment processing computingsystem to the merchant POS device, an indication of an approvedauthorization when the issuer processor approves the authorizationrequest.
 40. The system of claim 34, wherein the purchase transaction isone of a series of recurring transactions of the expected value.